Monday, June 23, 2014

The day begins as depressingly as the night ended. She wakes him before the alarm rings and tells him she cannot live without a purpose anymore. It looks like she has been sitting up for some time. She continues eroding him whilst looking straight ahead at her feet.

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Please, let's keep trying. I'll go to the clinic like you suggested. It'll be alright."

"And what if it still doesn't work? We cannot just keep lying to ourselves. We have to face, and then take, the tough decisions. I know I can. It's just too bad that you cannot."

He trudges to work with his head down. His boss calls him in. The government has approved the vaccine and made it mandatory for the whole nation. The men in white shirts have decreed there shall be no more epidemics. The rest of his team will be redeployed soon, but he, he "don't have transferable skills". He makes a joke about killing the guy who invented the vaccine.

He goes out to the field still in a daze. There has been a complaint about an increase in the number of mosquitoes at a block near his childhood home. He honestly wants to help his old neighbours out one last time if he can. He knocks on a door. An elderly but energetic lady opens the door suspiciously. She must have only moved in recently. Upon hearing who he is, her look turns to one of "Why did you take so long?"

"Yeah I called about the mosquitoes. They must be coming from the construction site. Can you do something about it?"

He says surely he will and continues by asking which time of the day the mosquitoes usually bite. "Who cares what time of day they bite? Do you treat them with different priority? They are mosquitoes all the same and I have babies at home to worry about! Please do your job!", she snaps before closing the door in his face.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

He sees this as an opportunity to practice what he has been learning. He frets for a full day about how to phrase the message.

"Could you?" or "Would you?".

"I need you to" or not?

In the end, he decides not to text him, but to speak to him after dinner instead. The idea is that it will allow for a fuller discussion of the situation, each other's motivations, and solutions to the problem.

They are alone at the table. One of them is looking for topics to talk about, while the other, himself, is staring intently at his cough syrup. His nerves are building with gathered pace. He feels like he has been transported 30 years back in time, and he is summoning courage to ask for the latest "Shaker" mechanical pencil.

The time is right now. Still he hesitates to start the topic.

His father gets up to go, so he blurts out the question. His father replies, "OK, I know", and retires to his room to sleep.